Is it too late to become a software engineer?

Or, it's never too late to do what you love.

Ever feel like the world is passing you by and you missed it? Maybe you really wanted to become a programmer and you are afraid it’s too late. Today’s question is for you…

As I explain in the video above, it’s not too late to become a software engineer. The key thing is to find out if you love it. That will take some experimentation to see if programming is something you enjoy.

For those of you who find out that you really enjoy programming, there is a bright future for you as a software engineer. If you don’t love programming, it’s probably not for you.

I say this as someone who fell in love with programming at like age 11 or 12. It’s been decades since I was a true beginner and I can’t exactly relate to not loving programming.

So, instead of saying that everyone in the world can be a successful software engineer, I’d say this. Anyone who loves programming can be a successful software engineer. But you have to love it. If you don’t love it, you won’t do it enough to become really great at it.

The other thing worth mentioning is programming can be a fun hobby. It doesn’t have to be a job. I would argue it’s more fun as a hobby than a jobby.

There are plenty of people out there who think the only correct aim is to be a top level engineer at a FAANG company and make a giant pile of money. There are tons of courses and videos devoted to that. And that’s fine.

But just remember, programming is fun. It’s okay for it to just be fun.

Which is maybe the biggest point in all of this. It’s never too late to do something you enjoy, regardless of what it gets you. If you find out you love to build software, it doesn’t matter who pays you or where you work or what kind of software you build. Just keep building software and enjoying the ride.

I spent many years as a self taught programmer making little software applications that I thought were cool. It was fun for me. Eventually people paid me money for it. Now companies pay me amounts that the 12 year old version of myself couldn’t fathom. And at some point I’ll retire and people will stop paying me to program software. You know what will happen then?

I’ll keep building software because I love it.

That’s what I’m talking about. It’s never too late to start something that you end up falling in love with.

-Brian

P.S. This is the first Q & A style video updated from the Code Career Genius archive. I was surprised at how much tighter this re-edited and de-branded version turned out. This might turn out to be a better project than I imagined it to be. :-)